Chapter Five

The next day at school, the buzz of yesterday's scandal had already passed. No one cared Ari had been caught making out with a college boy, in a questionable state of dress, smoking questionable substances. Everyone had moved on and were on to new exciting gossip. Ari and James had been seen riding to school together again. Whatever problems they'd had for the last month were now patched up.

The rumor was they were finally dating. By the second period, students were already declaring their votes for the new couple as junior prom king and queen. If you asked one of these students for their reason, they'd say "It only felt right after what the couple had been through."

You might be asking yourself. For someone not into gossip you sure know a lot. Three words, two people. Kris and Katie. Today it was all they cared to talk about. Katie was super salty about the prom queen development, despite my reassurance of the unlikelihood. Running and campaigning for prom queen wasn't Ari's style. She chose to ignore my reassurances and continued to question me for details every time we ran into each other.

We are sitting at lunch and they're still pressing me for insider information. But my lips are sealed. Believe me, I want to tell them. I've never been good at keeping secrets, and I know they'd die to know what I do. It puts me on edge.

My legs bounce up and down uncontrollably under the table. But despite my silence, they continue to interrogate me. It's as if they're aware I know more then I'm letting on.  I'm on the edge of cracking.

I sit slumped in my seat and try my darndest to be as inconspicuous as possible. If I don't move, and I don't look at them, Kris and Katie couldn't see me. Nothing would slip out. I fear if I say a single word it will all come spilling out in the words of Cady from Mean Girls "word vomit". I concentrate intently on the lunch in front of me.

Suddenly the table goes silent. I look up from my food and everyone is staring behind me with a strange expression on their faces. Katie's boyfriend's mouth is slightly ajar, and bits of cheese pizza is hanging out. Gross. Then the empty seat between me and Katie's boyfriend slides back. I turn to see Ari sitting down next to me.

I have a momentary lapse in judgment or what's scientifically diagnosed as a brain fart. Perhaps I'm focusing so hard on trying to be somewhere else that I forget where I am. Or maybe I'm so relieved she has saved me from the interrogation, I forget she is the reason they're interrogating me. Either way, I slip up. 

I give her the brightest of smiles.

"Hey, Ari! What's up?" I say.

Ari gives me a quick half hug which I return. Then she slides over a couple sheets of paper.

"I wanted to show you. I'm too excited to wait."

I look down at the schematic and list of materials. "No way. You figured it out?"

"Yep." She smiles at me full of pride. "We can totally pull this off. I already created a miniature demonstration at home. We have to scale it up and recalculate the dynamics on a larger scale, but we should be able to finish this project by this weekend."

"Nice," I say and stare down at the complex papers in front of me. "And I've created a sweet infographic go with our poster. I'll show it to you later." Since we had both skipped Physics yesterday neither of us had, had the chance to show each other or progress

"Excellent! We're slaying, chica."

Ari puts her hand up for hi-five which I excitedly return. The moment our hands connect, it's as if a bucket of ice water has been thrown over my head. I realize where I am, and who is watching us. I put my hands in my lap and turn to my friends. Cheese still dangles from Katie's boyfriend's mouth, but at least now his mouth is closed.

I'm at a loss for words. And so are my friends. But never Ari.

She grins, "Hi. I'm Aurora." 

As if they didn't know. Had I not been in a state of shock I would have laughed.

Ari gives Katie a fleeting glance then turns her attention to everyone else. There are always six to seven people sitting with us. Today there are seven, and every set of eyes are staring at her in variations of shock and dismay. The kind of attention that would've caused me to stumble and stutter over my words. Ari goes on talking and working her magic. It isn't magic as much as it is strategy.

"Katie and I are on the track team together," She continues, "And I think I've had a couple of classes with a few of you."

She makes her connection to Katie, she is the link that connected us all, the leader of the group. Alpha. If you enjoy comparing high school teens to a pack of wild ferocious animals. I do.

Ari acknowledges Katie as such, while at the same time letting everyone know they are teammates and therefore at least equals. 

Then she turns to Kris. Katie's best friend and beta.

"Oh, and Kris. I saw your rendition of Wicked last week. It was sick!"

Kris claps his hands together in delight. "You saw it! You liked it?"

"Are you kidding me?" Ari says her voice pitches up to match Kris's excitement, "It's the best high school play I've ever seen. Except for maybe the play you did last year, Hamilton."

Kris squeals and absolutely loses it. He starts one of his Broadway musical rants. Katie's lost all color in her face. She hasn't said a single word but is looking at Kris as if she is staring at a very gory very bloody murder scene. And to have Kris go on and on, without her saying a single word, is unheard of.

"Omg, I should cast you in our next play." He rants. "Have you ever thought of auditioning? Ow...!" Kris glares at Katie.

He later tells me, she'd kicked him in the shin under the table. Katie said she didn't kick him...hard.

Ari pretends not to notice and smiles. "I could never. I have serious stage fright."

"Really?" Kris and I ask in unison.

We both look at her in shock. From what I knew of Ari, she was an adrenaline junky. And always seemed to be at the center of attention. How could she have stage fright? The irony is ridiculous.

Ari smiles at me. "Oh, it's bad. Has anyone ever seen me give a class presentation? I'm a nervous wreck."

She had moved on to the next step. Humanization and self-deprecation. Everyone is relaxing and leaning in closer. Superstar Aurora was afraid of public speaking, this was interesting.

"Believe me, if someone put a gun to my head and told me to give a speech in front of a thousand people. I'd take the bullet. Or pass out trying."

"Here's to hoping you make valedictorian," Katie mutters under her breath, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Katie." I hiss and glare at her in disapproval.

Katie shrugs and rolls her eyes. "What? Valedictorian is a good thing."

Ari stares at her. Katie briefly makes eye contact then looks away.

Katie's boyfriend speaks up. I groan internally and Kris's shoulder visibly slump. Katie broke up with her boyfriend every other week over every little thing. Kris and I would come over, eat ice cream, snack, and pack on a bunch of calories, and listen to her complain about him. She'd cry. And we'd support her and tell her he was no good for her.

She'd wake up the next morning run off all the calories. Then the next day gets back together with the schlub. Leaving Kris and me, five pounds heavier, and hours of wasted time watching sappy romcoms. I did not want this dummy to say anything stupid. Prom is fast approaching, Kris and I made a pact we weren't doing any more break-up pity parties. We had to look good for our dates.

Her boyfriend had no clue what's happening. Nor is he aware of the bear traps waiting for him to set off. All he knows is that a beautiful girl is sitting next to him and having a conversation. And he wanted to join. If he were smart, he would roll his eyes at all her jokes, and not return her smiles. Better yet he'd pretend she wasn't there. Instead, he gladly falls, no leaps, into all the traps arms spread eagle.

"Don't mind her," he chimes in helpfully. "You're crazy smart. You probably will be valedictorian."

"Aww, thanks." Ari smiles and pats him on the shoulder. There she is again touching unnecessarily. And worst of all she'd given him not any smile but the slow creeper. All her strategy she'd put into making nice is now for not. Then again, she'd never had a chance at getting on Katie's good side.

Katie's boyfriend glances down at Ari's hand on his shoulder. Then he turns three shades of red and the goofiest smile I've ever seen spreads across his face. I refuse to look at Katie, she is probably full-out-blowing-steam-from-her-ears angry. I didn't need to look at her to know it's bad. All I had to do is see Kris who is staring at Katie as if she's about to explode.

"And...you're good at soccer." Her boyfriend stumbles out. "You're a great forward and a goalie too..."

"Ow...!" A sharp pain shoots up my lower leg.

I glare at Katie from across the table. She shrugs her shoulders again.

Later, Katie tells me she was aiming for her boyfriend. But I'm not so sure.

I rub the assaulted shin underneath the table.

Her boyfriend continues to gosh over Ari's athletic finesse uninterrupted by my yelp.

"Are you a better center forward or goalkeeper. The first game of last season, the plays you set up were amazing. No cap! And you pulled off a hat trick!"

"I prefer forward, it's where the action is, but Coach is always putting me up as goalie. I've had a clean sheet since junior varsity." Ari says.

"What deadass?" He is in complete awe. I'm not sure what's going on, I don't speak sports.

"Yep." Ari smiles at everyone and then turns to me. "I'm going to head back to my table. Text me later? " Ari scoots back from her chair stands up but pause before she leaves.

"Oh, I almost forgot." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out plastic cards. She puts a few of them out on the table. "You are all invited."

They are transparent cards, shaped and designed to looks like iPhones. Details of the event are printed out as if they are part of the text message thread. I scan it and my eyes nearly bug out of my head.

Ari puts a hand on my shoulder and says. "Don't freak. I couldn't help myself. We have the same birthday it would've been wrong."

The cards are invites to a birthday party at Lake Havafunn. Not Ari's party but a shared birthday listing my name as well.

"Oh my gosh, Ari. I don't know?" I say.

"Yes, you do." She insists. "We'll discuss it later. Let me know if you need more invites. It's exclusive only close friends and no one gets in without an invite."

Ari smiles, winks and then walks away. Leaving me with the mother of all bombs in my lap. I know, she knows, that I know what she's done. Her smile had been too mischievous, to be clueless. I stare down at the cards until somebody clears their throat.

I look up and every eye is on me. Again, no words. When in doubt...shrug? It doesn't work. I get more question then I can comprehend all at once. Questions about the party. My shared relationship and birthday with Ari. Was Ari always that nice? Did I know more about her and James? And so, on and so on. Everyone had questions except for one person. Katie. She remains silent. It scares me more than anything.

For the rest of lunch, Katie doesn't say a word or so much as glance at me. The end of lunch bell rings and I stand up and start to clear my things. As I walk away, there's a touch on my arm.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Katie doesn't appear angry or annoyed, but solemn. I wonder if she is going to ban me from the lunch table. I don't think she would do or could do it without looking like a jerk. But it crosses my mind.

"Sure," I say.

Katie cautiously looks around the hall for listening ears. "Be careful."

I laugh, "I'm always careful."

She rests her hand on my arm and stares at me in concern. "No, I'm serious. Aurora is not what she seems." Her words come out as a hushed whisper. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Katie..." I start to protest but she interrupts me.

"No, listen. You want to be friends with her, then fine. I can't say I'm happy about it, but whatever. Just be careful. You're a sweet and kind person. Don't let her change you." The corners of Katie's lips turn up in an attempted smile but quickly falls into a frown.

Then she walks away. Leaving me confused and worried. I'd expected to Katie to yell or tease me. Not leave me with an ominous warning hanging above my head. What did Katie know about Ari she wasn't saying? And why so cryptic, it wasn't like her? I pull myself out of thought and head for my next class.

The rest of the day went by smoothly. I didn't have any classes with Kris or Katie, or any of my tablemates. I spent the rest of the day in peace. I skipped going to my locker and lugged all my books with me. I didn't want to have any accidental locker run-ins. It didn't stop me from hearing the tea from my peers.

Everyone was in a state of excitement about the exclusive party invites being passed among the in-crowd. The few cards I had left in my back pocket felt as if they were burning a hole through my jeans. People were so excited even the teachers had noticed. They had to tell everyone to shush several times. The hype was real and the party was still two weeks away.

Tbc...Lunch two...Thanks for reading. XD